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Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic marker for head and neck cancer with lung metastasis: a retrospective study

  • Head and Neck
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European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Letter to the Editor to this article was published on 18 April 2022

Abstract

Purpose

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is the most widely biomarker used to assess the inflammatory system in various solid cancers. An elevated NLR has been reported to be associated with worse outcomes in head and neck squamous cell cancers (HNSCC). However, questions remain about the prognostic value of these findings in HNSCC patients with lung metastasis. This study aims to quantify the prognostic impact of NLR on HNSCC patients with lung metastasis.

Methods

A retrospective chart review of 169 HNSCC patients was performed at the Otorhinolaryngology and the Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery Department (Saint-Pierre Hospital), between 2000 and 2017. All patients were divided into two subgroups. Patients who developed lung involvement were assigned to the lung-metastasis-group (LM-group) in contrast to no-lung-metastasis-group patients (NLM-group). The prognostic significance of NLR was evaluated using multivariable analysis adjusting for overall-survival (OS) and lung-metastasis-free-survival (LMFS).

Results

95 patients were enrolled in the NLM-group while 74 were in the LM-group. Multivariable analysis highlights that patients with a higher NLR value had shortened OS in the NLM subgroup (HR 1.3; p = 0.024). However, this association was not found in the LM subgroup. When considering both subgroups, an elevated NLR was reported as a prognostic factor of poor LMFS (HR 1.65; p = 0.047).

Conclusion

Our data revealed that pretreatment NLR is an independent prognostic factor of mortality and lung metastasis development. However, the prognostic value of NLR is not confirmed in patients who suffered from lung metastasis. Physicians should integrate these findings in their treatment algorithm approach.

Level of evidence

4

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

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Author notes

  1. Antoine Yanni and Thibaut Buset should be considered as joint first authors.

  2. Sven Saussez and Didier Dequanter contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, CHU-Saint-Pierre, 322 rue Haute, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Antoine Yanni, Thibaut Buset, Cyril Bouland, Isabelle Loeb & Didier Dequanter

  2. Medicine Faculty, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Route de Lennik 808, Brussels, Belgium

    Isabelle Loeb

  3. Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, CHU Saint Pierre, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium

    Jerome R. Lechien, Alexandra Rodriguez, Sven Saussez & Didier Dequanter

  4. Laboratory of Human Anatomy and Experimental Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons (UMONS), Avenue du Champ de Mars, 8, Mons, Belgium

    Jerome R. Lechien, Fabrice Journe & Sven Saussez

  5. Laboratory of Oncology and Experimental Surgery, Jules Bordet Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium

    Fabrice Journe

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  1. Antoine Yanni
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  2. Thibaut Buset
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Correspondence to Antoine Yanni.

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Yanni, A., Buset, T., Bouland, C. et al. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic marker for head and neck cancer with lung metastasis: a retrospective study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 279, 4103–4111 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-022-07274-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-022-07274-1

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